President Trump is proposing a budget plan that gives up the fight against deficit spending, which has long been a Republican goal. But Trump's budget concedes that goal; tax revenues will not catch up to spending as far as the eye can see.

The economic expansion has come with high corporate profits, but barely any wage growth. Now, markets are in a tizzy over a a recent bump up in wages. But Germany has an even tighter job market without higher inflation, and one measure of job market tightness — the number of people who quit jobs to take new ones — remains low.